Around the world in Christmas cookies

Bringing this list into our backyards, pineapple jam tarts symbolise more than Christmas festivities in Malaysia. They’re typically eaten during major holidays like Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, and Christmas. This writer can’t imagine Christmas without multiple baking trays of these treats. Fresh or tinned pineapple is slowly stewed into jam and traditionally flavoured with whole cloves. A dollop of this tropical marmalade is then spooned onto a coin of crumbly shortcrust and pressed into a decorative mould. 

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The popularisation of shortbread is attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots, as the cooks in her court perfected the recipe, but ancient Scottish folklore considered this biscuit symbolic of the sun on New Year’s Eve. Now eaten during tea time and as Christmas accompaniments, shortbreads are recognised for their sandy, buttery texture. They are traditionally made with butter, sugar, and white flour. Shortbreads are devoid of any leavening, resulting in a dense and crumbly bake. 

Varying from the molasses-laden gingerbread we know and love, pepparkakor are thin Scandinavian gingersnaps. They include Swedish golden syrup in place of molasses but are spiced with similar aromatics like ginger, cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg. Contemporary modifications have seen pepparkakor topped with jam and soft blue cheese.

Putri Salju are a form of Indonesian kue kering and similarly to pineapple jam tarts, are eaten during the festive seasons of Imlek, Lebaran, and Christmas. Translating to ‘snow princess’, these crescent-shaped biscuits are dusted in a coating of confectioner’s sugar. Milk powder, almond meal, and cornstarch meld together to create a tender, delicate crumb that is commonly flavoured with vanilla. 

Christmas sandwich cookies that have become increasingly popular in recent years, Linzer cookies originate from festive celebrations in Austria. The biscuits themselves are made with a sugar cookie-esque dough with festive twists of cinnamon and lemon juice. Apricot preserves, raspberry jam, or lemon curd fill the sandwich’s centre, with a window cut out of the top layer to reveal its interior. These Austrian biscuits are presented immaculately, sometimes in the shape of hearts or stars. 

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Despite only a small proportion of India’s population celebrating Christmas, kul kul or kalkal are yuletide cookies found in most celebratory spreads. These cookies are made exclusively during Christmas and are laced with Goan-Portuguese culinary influence. Deep-fried instead of baked, kul kul are crunchy on the outside, concealing a soft, cake-like interior spiced with cardamom and vanilla. Thumb-sized spheres of dough are rolled onto the prongs of forks to create the cookies’ signature swirls. 

Kahk are Egyptian biscuits traditionally served during Eid al-Fitr. While Christmas is not a major holiday in Egypt, these cookies prove culturally significant to the region with their adoption into a festive tradition. A filling of honey, crushed pistachios, ghee, and sesame seeds is encased in a lightly spiced dough similar to shortbread and then dredged with icing sugar. Some variations of kahk from other countries include dates, cherry seed extract, or fennel.

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